Prosperity
Without Growth (1)

20 July
2010

Like biologists, economists in the West are
not a group regarded highly by the general population. Quite
opposite, in fact. The reputations of the people in these
professions are even worse in China, since the former are
trying to push the government to force Chinese people into consuming
GM rice before any credible evidence to prove it is save
for long-term use being presented for public scrutiny, while
the latter keep promoting full privatisation and market
economy which are blamed by the dissatisfied in the community
as the cause for the increased
gap between the rich and the poor.

When some Chinese economists perching
on important key positions, such as the head of a school
for management at one of China's leading universities, are
still lobbying for China to develop an unchecked
free market and unrestricted consumerism, as which are
what they learned in the West decades ago, and as they don't
seem to know anything else, in the Western world, the general
consensus in the fields of economics and of the general public
has already shifted away from this economic model that is
considered as being unsustainable. And some pioneering economists
have joined the movement to search for new ways of living
our lives in the new century.

Here we present one of such brave attempts
made by Professor Tim Jackson, the head
of UK Government's Sustainable Development Commission (英国的'可发委'
- 可持续发展委员会 - 跟中国的‘发改委’反其道而行之。这究竟唱的是锡剧呢还是京剧呢？是可喜呢还是可惊呢？).
The following is the excerpt from his book titled Prosperity
Without Growth and our Chinese translation:

The Transition
to a Sustainable Economy

Growth has delivered its benefits,
at best, unequally. A fifth of the world’s
population earns just 2% of global income.
Inequality is higher in the OECD nations than
it was 20 years ago. Far from raising the living
standard for those who most needed it, growth
let much of the world’s population down.
Wealth trickled
up to the lucky few.

Fairness (or the lack of it) is
just one of several reasons to question the conventional
formula for achieving prosperity. As the economy
expands, so do the resource implications associated
with it.

A world in which things simply
go on as usual is already inconceivable.

This report sets out a critical
examination of the relationship between prosperity
and growth. It acknowledges at the outset that
poorer nations stand in urgent need of economic
development. But it also questions whether ever-rising
incomes for the already-rich are an appropriate
goal for policy in a world constrained by ecological
limits. In short, this report challenges the
assumption of continued economic expansion in
rich countries and asks: is it possible to achieve
prosperity without growth?

The banking crisis of 2008 led
the world to the brink of financial disaster
and shook the dominant economic model to its
foundations. It redefined the boundaries between
market and state and forced us to confront
our inability to manage the financial sustainability
– let alone the ecological sustainability –
of the global economy.

The market was not undone by rogue
individuals or the turning of a blind eye by
incompetent regulators. It was undone by growth
itself.

This model was always unstable
ecologically. It has now proven itself unstable
economically. The age of irresponsibility
is not about casual oversight or individual
greed. If there was irresponsibility
it was systematic, sanctioned widely and with
one clear aim in mind: the continuation and
protection of economic growth.

Prosperity has undeniable material dimensions.
It’s perverse to talk about things going well
where there is inadequate food and shelter
(as is the case for billions in the developing
world). But it is also plain to see that the
simple equation of quantity with quality, of
more with better, is false in general. When
you’ve had no food for months and the harvest
has failed again, any food at all is a blessing.
When the American-style fridge freezer is already
stuffed with overwhelming choice, even a little
extra might be considered a burden, particularly
if you’re tempted to eat it.

Prosperity has vital social and psychological
dimensions. To do well is in part
about the ability to give and receive love,
to enjoy the respect of your peers, to contribute
useful work, and to have a sense of belonging
and trust in the community. In short,
an important component of prosperity is the
ability to participate meaningfully in the
life of society.